Ypulse Mashup 2010 Recap: Day One- Radio's Role in HIV Prevention, MTV's Digital Bill of Rights, Metal, and Mobile

Ypulse Mashup 2010

Although my main focus these days is on the worlds of radio and music, I've always had a strong affinity for teen culture. I did my college thesis on adolescent diaries, worked at an ad agency tracking youth trends on accounts like Levi's, spent most of grad school writing about youth-oriented TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Real World, and Parker Lewis Can't Lose, and even worked for a dot com that helped teenagers to shop online without a credit card.

When I ran across Ypulse back in 2004 I thought that I had found a youth culture soul mate in its author, Anastasia Goodstein. She'd spent many years writing about young people and devoted her blog to chronicling the goings on in youth media and technology.

For the past three years Ypulse has hosted Mashup events, in which youth enthusiasts come together to learn about the latest in youth technology and media. These events draw marketers from both non-profit and for-profit companies, educators, journalists, and youth experts.

This year's event took place on May 24th and May 25th in San Francisco at the Hotel Nikko. As I did last year, I will focus my Spinning Indie coverage on the music and radio-related tidbits that I gleaned.

Youth, Health & Social Media Marketing Session: Radio is Still Relevant, But Mobile is Huge

A really cool theme throughout the entire conference was the importance of social causes and giving back. The first session that I attended featured several panelists talking about how their organizations reach out to youth in order to address various health-related issues.

Tina Hoff from the Kaiser Family Foundation shared some factoids (PDF) from their 2010 study, "Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds." It's an awesome study that reveals how much the media landscape has changed in the past decade. In terms of music and audio, she pointed out that according to their study, 76% of youth own an iPod/mp3 player, 66% own cell phones, and 29% own laptops.

Young people spend more than 2 and a half hours each day listening to music/audio, with 23% of that listening time through radio and 23% through computers. Twenty-nine percent of the time young people are choosing to listen to music through an iPod, 12% of the time listening is through a cell phone, and 12% of listening is via CDs. She also mentioned that in a typical day, young people are spending 17 minutes listening to music via their cell phone. Although her presentation just scratched the surface of the study, earlier this year I took a close look at the report and pulled out all of the radio and music-themed findings.

Trina DasGupta shared the case study "Mobile Matters: Youth Empowerment and HIV Prevention in South Africa" (PDF). She spoke about the project loveLife and how it's working to educate youth in South Africa about HIV prevention. And, interestingly, loveLife is making a significant use of both traditional radio and mobile to reach young people. In South Africa, the Internet is not the best way to communicate information, with only 10% of the country having Internet access.

Radio is still a significant form of communication and loveLife not only utilizes public service announcements, but also airs weekly programs on 11 stations and has an entire program called "Radio Ys" in which young people are getting trained in radio production and are hosting radio shows related to HIV Prevention. At the same time, loveLife has created a mobile social network since 75% of South African youth own mobile phones. It's a fascinating approach, using both new and traditional media.

MTV also shared some of the projects (PDF) that they are doing in order to advance social causes. Jason Rzebka talked about their latest project, A Thin Line, in which they are helping to raise awareness of digital abuse, as well as "It's Your (Sex) Life's" GYT (Get Yourself Tested) campaign and mtvU's attempt to address mental health issues (and erase the stigma of mental illness) on campus with "Half of Us."

In each campaign they've provided opportunities for MTV viewers to create content, submit stories, or write lyrics in response to various questions or challenges. One of the latest projects is an app called "Over the Line," which Jason described as a "digital morality meter." Through the app, people can submit and rate stories related to digital abuse, judging whether certain behaviors are over the line or not (for example, demanding access to a boyfriend's emails or texts). The day of the conference, MTV also launched a "A THIN LINE's Digital Bill of Rights", inviting youth to craft their own rules about how they want to be treated online (or via mobile devices), from protecting one's privacy to being safe from bullying.

As is always the case with MTV, social causes are incorporated within their programming, from "The Real World" to "16 and Pregnant" and music and musicians are often the message-bearers. (By the way, later in the day Jason also did a separate presentation (PDF) focused exclusively on the "A Thin Line" campaign).

Action Sports and Music: Vans Warped Tour as Rite of Passage

Next I dashed into a session about action sports because there was a presentation about the Vans Warped Tour, dealing with the intersections between music and sports. Kathleen Gasperini from Label Networks talked about how influential music and musicians are to young people. She said that the Vans Warped Tour (coming up in a few weeks) has become a "quintessential rite of passage for North American youth culture" and that music helps to forge connections between kids across both gender and ethnicity. She also talked a bit about music subcultures, from NuRave and Synth Punk to Metal. My favorite quote of the day came from her, when she said that metal never really went away, "it just went to Europe for awhile."

Radio, Music and Global Youth

I missed the session about Global Youth, but Ypulse has kindly posted many of the presentations on their website. One thing that caught my eye in the presentation about youth culture in China, was a slide on the "vintage trend" featuring a picture of a young person holding a boombox and sitting next to a dial telephone. I wonder what that means for terrestrial radio?

Ypulse's Dan Coates shared some figures about U.S. youth from Ypulse's research division. According to Dan, 17 to 26-year-old non-college students listen to radio (overall) an average of 7 hours a week compared with 4 hours a week for college students in the same age group. Non-college students listen to traditional radio an average of 5.1 hours a week (vs. 2.6 hours for college students), listen to online radio 1.3 hours a week (vs. 1.1 hours for college students), and listen to satellite radio 1 hour a week (vs. 0.45 hours for college students).

Archeological Dig of Student Backpacks: Condoms, Tampons, and Flash Drives

I love it when researchers do projects in which they delve into the lives of people in real-world settings. It's just WAY more interesting to talk to teenagers in their bedrooms, on shopping trips, or at their schools than to chat with them inside a sterile focus group facility. For the next presentation, Dan Coates presented findings from an audit of the contents of the backpacks (PDF) of more than one thousand high school and college students in the United States. He pointed out that for young people, a backpack is a "library, a workplace, a financial center, a medicine cabinet, a cosmetic counter, a communications hub, a safe deposit box, and a stash."

It was fascinating to hear about the range of items found in backpacks, from underwear to a "beat up apple," a "marginal banana," and a crucifix/knife. As you might guess, young people carry a lot of technology in their backpacks, including items to facilitate listening to music, such as MP3 players (57% of girls, 52% of boys) and headphones (42% girls, 41% boys).

 

Genevieve Bell at the Ypulse Mashup

Genevieve Bell's Keynote Presentation: An Anthropologist's Take on Product Innovation

In the afternoon we heard a keynote presentation from anthropologist Genevieve Bell. As the Director of the User Experience Group at Intel's Digital Home Group, she is fixated on "consumer-centric product innovation" and global research. I was very interested in her comments about "stubborn devices" like television, as many future tech-oriented folks seem to discount their ongoing relevance. She said that home TV viewing in the United States has actually gone up in the past 10 years to 4 to 6 hours a day on average, even though that viewing may be in the background while using other devices like laptops. She added that the fastest growing group of TV watchers is young people (aka millenials), with their viewing increasing by 18% in the past 6 years. [I'm super curious to know what Genevieve would say about radio, as it seems to be another stubborn device, being used by most, despite popular perceptions to the contrary]

Genevieve also argued that there may be a backlash against the "always on, always connected" lifestyle of mobile devices and social networks. She is seeing evidence of people turning off their phones in order to manage their relationship to mobile and has found that some people are turning away from online social networks.  She said that when a technology ceases to be "new" or "sexy," then people may end up using it less.

In terms of privacy fears, Genevieve argued that people now assume that all of their information is already out there and are in fact more afraid of certain pieces of information damaging their image or reputation. She said that people are afraid of others knowing "what we're really watching on television," because that could make them look uncool.

I was happy to see that Genevieve also emphasized that, "a globally located world doesn't end localness" and that there is "no single arc of technology adoption." In terms of radio, I've found that to be true, in that its power lies in its localness and in the fact that how it is used around the world can vary tremendously, depending on the other available forms of communication technology and media.

DJs from The DJ Project

Happy Hour with the DJ Project: Digital Turntables

The first day of the Mashup ended with a reception that featured young DJs from The DJ Project "spinning" music for the attendees. I was fascinated to see that the slabs of vinyl being manipulated and scratched on the 2 turntables were seemingly "blank" DJ records that were used to interact with digital music files on a computer. I chatted a bit with the DJs about this and they commented that it's a lot easier than lugging around a bunch of vinyl. It's the perfect reflection of the seemingly contradictory trends of music's digital future and the renewed interest in vinyl records.

It was awesome to see The DJ Project at Ypulse, as it's an amazing youth empowerment program in San Francisco that uses "music to engage young adults" and provides classes in audio production, DJing, and break dancing.

Coming of Age as a Jehovah's Witness and College Radio Lover: An Interview with Tony DuShane

 

When I heard word that former college radio DJ Tony DuShane had released a coming-of-age novel, Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk, about growing up in the Jehovah's Witness religion, I was very interested to hear more about his personal story. The novel is based on his own experiences growing up in the religion and in places it touches upon the conflict that he must have felt between being part of a very restrictive religion and his burgeoning interest in music, radio and indie culture.

In his interview with me, Tony touches upon the similarities between his own upbringing and that of the novel's protagonist and goes into detail about radio has helped to save his soul. These days he continues to DJ at Pirate Cat Radio in San Francisco, doing his long-running show "Drinks with Tony," in which he interviews writers, artists, and musicians.


Spinning Indie: How closely does your novel "Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk" model your own youth?

Tony DuShane: I was that Jehovah's Witness kid, knocking on your door with my elder dad from four years old forward. I thought God was going to kill me at Armageddon because I masturbated or I watched an R-rated movie. I was deep in the belief system and very earnest, just as Gabe is in the novel. Into my 20s I thought God would expose this darkness inside me when he killed anyone who wasn't a JW at Armageddon and I would be the reproach of my family who would watch me die and not feel sorrow since I turned out to be a wicked man. Looking back, my darkness resembled a cup of whole milk, and the novel is a tribute to how I felt in that repressive environment.

Gabe is his own guy. I put him through some similar situations I was in, but I wish there was more of him in me at the time.

He was a fun character to work with and develop. It took many rewrites to balance his naivety with his strong belief system and ultimately give himself larger and larger dares to challenge the right and wrong in his world. The last rewrites were the hardest because I really fell in love with him, he was no longer a doppelganger of myself and I wanted to pull him out of the situations happening around him. That's when the writing break through really happened, when he spoke for himself and made decisions and I had to just watch and cry and laugh and slap him, yet give him a hug.

Gabe did get help from his step-uncle, Jeff and his cousin, Karen. The help wasn't always beneficial, some of it was purely silly, but it was a perspective he really needed to push him forward that I never had when I was growing up.

Spinning Indie: For someone clearly so into music, it must have been challenging for you to grow up as a Jehovah's Witness since so many music-related things forbidden by the religion (school dances, band posters & T-shirts) are enmeshed with teen culture and identity. Was that a source of conflict for you?

Tony: Personally, even though I hid my music from my parents, I had an odd sense of entitlement about it. There was honesty in it. My parents were so strict, I wished them dead often and when Suicidal Tendencies came out with "I Saw Your Mommy and Your Mommy's Dead", that was sweet bliss for under three minutes. Listening to punk was like a three minute orgasm. It was like I could leave my body and my family and religion for power chords and screaming. My parents found some of my punk rock contraband and made me throw it away. That was more dread, more guilt and more frustration. If it wasn't for music and literature I probably would've killed myself. Suicide runs in my family and I've had a few very dark periods where it was a real possibility.

Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk tows the line between dark comedy and tragedy, and then I start talking about it for interviews and I seem so tragic. I'm funny in real life. Tragically.

Spinning Indie: The title character, Gabe, seems to catch glimpses of the non-Jehovah's Witness world through his interactions with music, mixtapes, and the radio. Can you tell me how your youth was shaped by music and radio?

Tony: I found MaximumRocknRoll on KPFA one night after bible study. I think I was 14. Then, I found college radio and I thought I had made this huge discovery. KFJC was the strongest signal where I lived in
Millbrae, and KZSU came in as well.

I would tape songs off of the radio, then make mix tapes for Jehovah's Witness girls who I thought were cute and wouldn’t tell on me. I'd even talk in between songs, telling my romantic focus of the moment that I loved them "and this next song is about my love for you."Hopefully most of those made it into the trash, but it's kind of cool to think there's still a tape out there, that some girl held onto. If I listened to it, I'd probably have six therapy sessions dealing with listening to my 16 year old self profess his love via cassette.

Oh, and KZSU has those finals weeks shows where the DJs play album sides so they can study while DJing. I used to tape those religiously.

Spinning Indie: There's a scene in the book where one of Gabe's friends (who is grounded) asks him for a transistor radio. This seemed like a telling moment to me and a reminder about how isolated teenagers can feel when they feel cut off from friends and their culture. When you were a teen, what was your connection to radio?

Tony: Connected to my headphones every single night. The JW always told us not to listen to music at night since Satanic music can come in and we wouldn't be able to change the dial. Sometimes I would wake up to a
song that "sounded" demonized, and I'd quickly turn off the radio and pray. I was a spiritual schizophrenic.

 

Vintage Photo of KFJC DJs Mona Lott and Tony DuShane

Photo courtesy Tony DuShane

Spinning Indie: Tell me a bit about how (and when) you first got involved with college radio.

Tony: I was still a Jehovah's Witness and 19 years old. Within a year my uncle killed himself, my sister attempted suicide, my dad had a nervous breakdown and lost his job and I put my hands on my girlfriend's boobs and fingered her. Since the last part was a sin, I confessed to the elders so I could get my paradise handstamp again and not be killed at Armageddon. I told them about the girl and five of them agreed that God took his spirit away from our family and all the calamities were because I had sinned. Then they were telling me not to go to therapy and trying to disfellowship my dad because he must have a secret sin since he had a nervous breakdown.

My dad spent 18 years as an elder and putting his whole soul into helping others in the religion. To watch these people turn on him, I was at a complete loss. And, crazier, I still believed in the JWs, I just decided to leave and pursue my radio dreams.  Ultimately the JW elders caught up with me and offered to help me and I accepted. Again, because I thought I was dead at Armageddon if I stayed away. They made me stop the radio station, so I quit my show, but doubts sprouted up again after observing really bad shit happen to other people in the congregations. I went back to KFJC and did fill-ins without telling anyone and tried to play both sides.

Spinning Indie: How has radio changed your life?

Tony: It's an addiction. I have to DJ. There's a difference when DJing at clubs and bars. When you're DJing to FM airwaves, you're DJing into space. There's no feeling like it. It's like inviting people over and playing records and talking about the records. Except your friends are in range of a transmitter. There could be five. There could be 5,000.

I remember the thing new DJs always do, they always beg for phone calls. Giving out the phone number every five minutes, wanting to play requests, wanting validation of people actually listening. It's embarrassing to listen to, but we've all been there. Now, I never give out the phone number and actually pull the plug on the phone during my radio shows. I do a lot more interviews now and set up since my shows focus on literature, I don't need someone calling in to request The Dwarves.

DJing at Pirate Cat Radio in San Francisco

l to r: Tony DuShane, Johnny Crash, and Bryan Kehoe

Photo courtesy Tony DuShane

Spinning Indie: Are you still doing a show at Pirate Cat Radio? (since when?) How is that experience of DJing at a pirate station similar or different to working in college radio?

Tony: I got back into radio by doing a podcast back in 2000 for Filmjunkie. It was interviews with actors and filmmakers. Then Filmjunkie became a film festival for a few years, so I switched my focus to literature and interviewing writers. Which turned into Drinks with Tony in 2002 since I tended to tape interviews at bars. I joined Pirate Cat in 2004 I believe. So, Drinks with Tony was a podcast as I was focusing on my writing and I got in touch with Monkey who runs Pirate Cat and let him know he could play my interviews if he wanted and he said, "Just do a fucking show already." I’ve taken some time off  recently from the station as we were doing final rewrites and getting the publicity wheels rolling for the novel.

As with college radio, pirate radio goes in waves of staff disputes, this fucking sucks, can't I just do my show, to everyone's happy and there's a dysfunctional family love. Pirate radio seems to be more of a dictatorship than a decently run college station, where people can speak up, there are actually program directors and it seems to run a bit better. Then there's the whole FCC paranoia, which is very real, but Monkey was the first person I have seen who has changed they way pirate radio deals with the FCC...he's nothing less of a genius and I know his love for radio and his contribution will turn into something much bigger in the future.

 

Jehovah's Witness Literature Adjacent to a Gaming Magazine

At a Place of Business in San Francisco, April 2010

Photo by Jennifer Waits

Spinning Indie: What's your connection to the Jehovah's Witnesses today? Are people upset about the book?

Tony: I'm inactive. That means I left and didn't do anything to get disfellowshipped for. They drill you with questions, but I played the mental illness card and they backed off.

That said, a few JWs who wanted to be cool and go see bands with me or get free tickets to films and drink my liquor and eat my food at my house for the past 10 years of my being inactive, they would hang out with me and really pretended to be my friend. When word of the novel came out, when my JW wife cheated on me, they blamed me and my novel. Pure hatred was spewed at me from so-called friends. It hurt like hell. The book was written, so I was in deal and technical edits mode, but I've had nothing but ignorant hatred from people who don't even know that the book comes from a place of love, understanding and truth.

Spinning Indie: Are you willing to share what caused you to leave the religion and if radio (KFJC?) had anything to do with that?

Tony: Radio and literature saved my soul, but they had nothing to do with my leaving the religion. I started seeing how the elders would make people feel like shit from the stage at the Kingdom Hall. I'd been reading literature and psychology books for some years. I was trying to just fade out so my family would still talk to me, so my "friends" would still talk to me. One day, I said, enough. There's something very wrong with elders acting so arrogant, then expecting such pureness from the flock of devotees. When the elders or the leaders at the Watchtower did something wrong, very wrong affecting many people, the answer was, "we're imperfect, God is giving us new light." When someone touches a girl's nipple, you can lose your family. I realized the whole religion was arrogant.

Which is why I wrote a novel and not a memoir. The memoir would have told the story. There would have been a preachiness to it. I despise preaching, I was involved enough with it growing up. The story had to be compelling and throw the reader into the world of Jehovah's Witnesses. To understand that there is good and bad. To understand that some people need religion. To understand that even the people who exploit religion sometimes feel they're doing it for the right reasons.

Beyond religion, as humans, we all justify our actions one way or another. The novel had to dig into the humanity aspect of why people make decisions that others see as odd.

Writing is about getting to the core of the human condition. Comedy is about the same thing. A poop joke is actually an observation of something we all hopefully do at least once a day.

Spinning Indie: Coincidentally, while I was reading the book, Jehovah's Witnesses were making the rounds of my neighborhood. What do you do when they come to your door?

Tony: I live in San Francisco and I've only been approached by Spanish speaking JWs when I lived in the Mission, and they'd just ask if I spoke Spanish, and now I live in a neighborhood where it's hard for anyone to get past the security gate. Oh, short answer, I don't know, hasn't happened, mostly because I live in the inner city and they have a hard time preaching in these neighborhoods.

Like Us: Youth-Themed Radio Drama Coming to College Radio

Way back in the early days of radio, dramatic productions were a staple of the medium. Families would gather around and listen to stories together in the evening. Even when I was a kid in the 1970s, I would listen to old radio dramas like "The Shadow" late at night in my room as I was falling asleep.

Today, you'll be hard-pressed to find radio stations playing radio drama. WNUR at Northwestern University is an exception, as they have a weekly radio show devoted to radio drama. Northwestern University Radio Drama (NURD) works from scripts written by students, both past (from as far back as the 1940s) and present.

Additionally, the station where I DJ, KFJC, has aired a number of radio dramas and serials over the years. When I first joined around 1998, DJ Nora Maki was at the helm of a weekly serial called "Hades Ham Journal" that aired every Friday night. In 2001, a group of us under the direction of DJ Thurston Hunger performed Lauri Bortz's play "Skirting the Issue" live over the air as a radio drama.

So, I applaud Vernae Williams for diving into the world of radio drama. Starting in September, her ongoing serial "Like Us," will be coming to college radio stations around the country. Using a very short-form format (60 to 90 second episodes), the series will focus on the friendship of three teen girls in Atlanta and the struggles that they face. As with any proper soap opera, she promises: Hookups, Secrets, Lies, and Deceit!

Vernae told me that she was inspired to create a series focusing on young African-American women because she felt like their experiences were not portrayed in mainstream media. As she's gearing up for her radio debut, she began her radio outreach with stations at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), although she told me that the series will have appeal beyond the African-American community as its themes touch on issues relevant to all young people.

So far she has around 11 college radio stations lined up to air "Like Us," including stations at Albany State (WASU), Alcorn State, Delaware State (WDSU), Grambling State (KGRM), and Howard University (WHUR). She's hoping to launch with at least 20 stations, so if you're interested, be sure to get in touch.



I chatted with Vernae recently about her endeavor and why she thinks college radio is the perfect medium for her coming of age soap opera for youth.

Spinning Indie: Can you briefly describe "Like Us"?

Vernae Williams: "Like Us" is a coming of age radio drama about three girls whose social and personal lives change drastically after an unfathomable tragedy.

Spinning Indie: What inspired you to create a radio drama?

Vernae: One day I was watching TV and I came across a few shows like "The Hills," "One Tree Hill" and "Dawson's Creek" and I then realized that there were NO shows with an entire African American cast-- therefore our story was not being told.

Three years later, I had written a television script and was working with a production company that was pitching "Like Us" to various television networks, but things weren't working out so I decided to end the relationship between me and the production company. When I left the production company I felt as if I was back to where I was three years ago and I didn't really know what to do until one day I was riding down the street listening to the radio and I started to imagine the show as a radio drama. I thought about how Guiding Light started out and the success of Tom Joyner's radio drama "It's Your World" and I went for it.

Spinning Indie: Why did you decide to debut it on college radio?

Vernae: The college radio market is so untapped and under used. I knew, if promoted and marketed right, bringing "Like Us" to college radio stations would bring great attention to the schools, their stations and the show. Not to mention that "Like Us" is about college students and the things they go through, so the idea of the show being in the home of my market is great.

Spinning Indie: How are you finding/selecting stations?

Vernae: I started out with HBCU stations, which have been the most supportive. I send out emails, make calls, contact through social networks and also use my personal connections to contact the stations.

Spinning Indie: Do you have any "dream" stations that you'd like it to air on?

Vernae: I believe each station that is a participating is my dream station. Each station reaches college students and the college students are my target audience.

Spinning Indie: What do you love about college radio? radio in general?

Vernae: Radio gives you the opportunity to really use your imagination and have fun with your thoughts and the things you're hearing. With college radio I'll have a chance to work closely with those that inspire "Like Us": the students.

Spinning Indie: Anything else you'd like to share?

Vernae: I am extremely excited and can't until the show airs, which is in late September. If there are any potential stations that are interested in airing "Like Us" or if anyone would like any additional information on the show I can be reached at vernaewilliams@gmail.com. I am also looking for sponsors, so if there are any sponsors interested in supporting "Like Us" please contact me.

Off the Bus and on the Record: Teen Journalists of "Rock Star Stories" chat about their new Book

I have an equal amount of passion for teen culture and indie music culture; so when the two worlds collide it's a safe bet that I will be seek out whatever book, movie, website, 'zine, or piece of music is the resulting product.

As a former teen journalist, I was super psyched to check out the new book Off the Bus and On the Record: 22 Candid Interviews by the Teen Journalists of the Rock Star Stories. I love it when teens create their own media and it must have been a dream come true for these teens to make a mission out of interviewing some of their musical idols.

The book collects interviews conducted by the young journalists of the TV show The Rock Star Stories. The program began when siblings Amanda and Jaime Rich were asked to host a teen-oriented music TV show in Florida called Swept Away TV. They invited their other siblings Zac and Brittany to help out behind the scenes and the show grew from there, ultimately airing around the country, online, and on college campuses. Eventually they started a non-profit that works to help train other young people in media creation.

Their book collects some of their favorite band interviews (including The Donnas, All-American Rejects, Fat Mike from NOFX, and Fall Out Boy), many of which were conducted when some of the journalists were young teens. I was curious how this group of young music fans discovered new music and if radio (especially college radio) played any part in their lives.

To learn more about their take on music discovery, music journalism, and what it's like to be young and interviewing rock stars; I had an email chat with Brittany and Zac Rich. I also got some perspective from the author of the book's foreward: Aaron Burgess. Aaron used to be the editor of indie music staple Alternative Press and he sheds some light on rock journalism across the generations.

The Rich Siblings

Spinning Indie: How do you learn about new music?

Brittany Rich: I listen to some of the obscure channels on satellite radio and listen to all kinds of music on Myspace. I also get recommendations from my friends who have all kinds of musical interests.

Zac Rich: A lot of ways. I tune into Pandora and Sirius radio. But also from other bands during interviews [who] will tell you "oh you have to check out this new band, they're really good."

Aaron Burgess: Even though working in this industry for a while has allowed me to get on a lot of mailing lists to hear advance music, I still discover most of the really good stuff the same way I always have: through word of mouth. Granted, the concept of “word of mouth” has changed a little since I first started getting serious about music. These days, I find out about new music primarily online, but I still go after the music that really grabs me in pretty much the same way I did before the Internet. (Yep, I’m officially old enough to be considered “pre-Internet.”)

Thanks to the Web, it’s just gotten a lot easier to learn more, faster, about new bands, and to go deeper than that to learn about things like the bands that inspired them and the genres, concepts and other big ideas that tie everything together. All that said, I still like having to work to learn more about bands that interest me, and I love to be surprised when a band I never could’ve imagined existing comes completely out of left field and sets me off on another tangent.

Aaron Burgess

Spinning Indie: Do you listen to radio? college radio?

Brittany: I listen to Sirius radio in the car and some local rock radio but we don't have a lot of alternative or even rock on the radio in our area. When I move into the dorms this year at college I will probably start listening to college radio.

Zac: Sirius Radio and Internet Radio.

Aaron: I don’t actively listen to commercial radio at all, and I listen to college radio primarily online while I’m at work. I love being able to sit at my desk in Texas and listen to a station in Ithaca or Pittsburgh or Washington—although I have to admit, I don’t listen to college radio as much for discovery as I do to affirm whatever tastes I might be pursuing at the moment.

When it comes to discovering new music, I visit a lot of music blogs and MP3 blogs, and I really like reading customer reviews at sites like Amazon and staff write-ups at stores like Aquarius and Amoeba. I’ve been relying on Twitter for new-music recommendations a lot lately, too. I’m aware of the irony here, but even though I review music professionally, I hardly ever look to professionally written reviews to give me the best insight into whether I’ll like a new record.

Spinning Indie: How do you think being an on-air (TV, video) journalist different from being a print journalist? Have you guys done both?

Brittany: I have done both but on air is much harder because you have to react in the moment to what the interviewee is saying. You also have to keep focused in spite of what may be going on around you. Your body language also is important on air. You want to give the same impression with your words and your actions.

Zac: Being on air makes you have to think really quick on your feet. You have X amount of time on camera and every move you make [and] question you ask gets shown on the tape. So you have to be really focused and able to think quick on your feet. No matter how much you get ready for an interview it won't have any effect if you lock up on camera and forget everything.

Aaron: I have a lot of respect for the Swept Away crew for having the guts to hone their chops on-air. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that anyone can do print journalism – interviews full of social awkwardness and dead air can be just as painful to experience when they’re not being broadcast live. But I do think that you have a tougher job as a TV or video journalist because you have to be totally present while your subject is in the spotlight.

You have to be ready for anything in ways that a print journalist doesn’t, and you have to be hyper-aware of things like timing, appearance, composure and rapport in ways that you don’t have to when you’re interviewing someone for print. With print, you can edit a terrible interview to look like something that flows. On video or TV (or even radio), the camera won’t let you lie quite as easily.

Spinning Indie: I see that your ventures now include radio. Is that relatively new and how do you like doing a radio show compared with TV?

Zac: I been doing Internet radio for the last 5 years, it's a uncensored talk show aimed at college students. It's nice to be on the Internet because of the freedom of being uncensored and being able to say whatever we want.

Spinning Indie: Do you think teens and young adults are better interviewers/journalists than older folks? Why?

Zac: Yes! for starters we care more about who and what we're interviewing because most of the time the band plays a role in our lives. Either we hear their music every day or we [or] our friends talk about them every day. Also because a teen or young adult journalist isn't as threatening to a band as a someone from NBC or ABC or MTV. To them we are just fans, but with a great job! This makes most bands open up more and tells us some really great stories.

Aaron: I really think it depends on the interviewer more than the age of the interviewer. In order to be a great interviewer, you really need to understand people—what makes them tick, how to unlock them—and for a lot of us, this sort of empathy a skill that only comes with time, experience and a lot of personal ups and downs.

That said, I’ve met a lot of teens who are wiser beyond their years than I ever was at that age, and I’ve met a lot of adults who continue to act like the stereotype of a dumb teenager. As one of those “old folks” myself, I can attest to the fact that age has brought wisdom and a wider sense of empathy for the people on the other side of the microphone that I might not have had when I was a 16-year-old doing my first interview. Knowing what I do now, I can only imagine how much better some of those early interviews would’ve been.

Spinning Indie: What do you love about music journalism?

Brittany: I love the excitement of discovering a new artist and telling everyone about him or her. I really like when other people discover an artist that I really enjoy listening to. I like to share!!!

Zac: Being able to say, "hey you know that band we interviewed like a year ago when no one else would give them the time of day?", and now they're the hottest thing on MTV and on the radio. That's the greatest part :-)

Aaron: I love getting beyond the music to understand more about the people who make it: their ups, downs, strengths and flaws. I love learning what makes people tick and being able to get insight into how great musicians become great. I love learning that my favorite artists are people, too, and I love it when I can get someone to open up about not just how they got from point A to point B in their craft, but how there were all these other factors that allowed them just to find where point A was in the first place. Beyond all this, though, I love being able to come back from an interview or assignment and have the chance to share what I find with other people.

Spinning Indie: What has it been like being a young female journalist interviewing mainly male musicians. Have you found the indie music scene to be welcoming?

Brittany: It can get weird and the guys can get really sexist but for the most part everyone has always been totally cool and nice. We keep it professional and music related or least we try to. Most indie artists are so appreciative of us trying to promote their music and it shows in their interviews. I started doing this when I was in 6th grade and back then I felt very self conscious and shy. After so many years nothing phases me anymore-even weird Jeffree Star!


Thanks to the crew from The Rock Star Stories for sharing their passion for music with me!

College and Community Radio Tidbits: KKUP Seeks Funds for Move, WGMU's Radio Summer Camp, and More on Vinyl Revival

DJ at East Village Radio in NYC

A few college radio-related stories to share:

Community Radio Station KKUP is Moving, Needs Funds
KKUP (91.5 FM) is a long-time community radio station right in my backyard. According to an article in the San Jose Mercury News, they are losing their current lease in Santa Clara so are being forced to find a new home. For this, they are seeking donations from listeners. The piece also points out that they may be one of the few stations that is entirely supported by listeners since they do not even accept underwriting. The article states:

"Started by a group of college students as educational programming in the early 1970s, KKUP now offers music ranging from comical to classical, reggae to barbershop, New Age to oldies, world to bluegrass, blues to gospel, current affairs to philosophy and vintage radio to poetry."

Radio Summer Camp at WGMU
I love that teens get the chance to learn about radio at college station WGMU's annual summer camp at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. According to an article in The Mason Gazette, the camp's been going on for 14 years.

Vinyl Revival among College Students in Kansas
Taking another look at the resurgence of vinyl, The University Daily Kansan ran a piece about young, local vinyl record enthusiasts who own hundreds of records and praise vinyl's sound, permanence, and the beauty of its artwork.

Vinyl Records at WNYU

Dearth of Indie Radio in NYC?
A piece in New York Magazine makes the argument that indie radio offerings in New York City are meager at best, at least as far as terrestrial signals go. Too bad the article didn't mention other over-the-air college stations like WNYU (89.1 FM) and online options like East Village Radio and Barnard's WBAR which are great resources for unheard sounds. The article states:

"Radio listeners who move here from smaller cities consistently discover that their preferred station has no analogue here. We barely have an indie presence, in any genre. (WFUV, Fordham's station, and WNYC itself are reliably smart, but New Jersey’s WFMU barely makes it to antennae on the East Side, and WKCR, Columbia College radio, is similarly underpowered.)"

College Radio Loyalists Refute Boston Globe's Dire Report on Radio

Student Station WECB at Emerson College in Boston

There's been some chatter this week about whether or not young people have turned away from terrestrial radio. An article in the Boston Globe (which I discuss further on Radio Survivor) called "Young Listeners Tune Out Radio in Search for New Music" quotes a bunch of teens and 20somethings about how they listen to and discover music. None of those quoted listens to radio. Of course the piece spawned some debate and many have rushed to defend radio's continued relevance.

Scanning through some of the 122 comments on the article, I found several themes.

1. Commercial Radio in Boston Sucks
2. There's No Good Music Anymore
3. Radio in Boston actually Rules
4. College and Non-Commercial Radio is Where it's At

Among all of the noise and banter, there were many amazing quotes from college and non-commercial radio fans (who of course realize that there is tons of great new music and there always has been).

I'm so encouraged that people are speaking out about the importance of the left end of the dial and was inspired by many of the eloquent commentary that I ran across. Here are a few gems that I liked from the sea of comments:



mifmu wrote:

"College radio rules and Boston is one, if not the richest source, of college radio in the nation. There is nothing homogeneous about it. WMBR, WERS, WUMB are all worth listening to for all genres of music and public affairs. And there's something expansive about listening to stuff which you may not like right off the bat. Given a little exposure to new and different types of music, it's surprising what you can grow to like.

The homogeneity of satellite radio is mind numbing, as is the screaming blather of commercial radio. And there's something anti-social and Orwellian about everyone running around plugged into individual MP3 players, oblivious to the world around us. Wake up and listen, Boston. There's an earful of culchah at the lower end of your radio dial. And unlike most MP3's (all, once DRM is fully enforced) it’s free!"

kalimba writes:

"Boston has the best college radio scene in the country, hands down, and this still has a loyal following here in Boston. WMBR, WERS, WZBC, WMFO, WMWM, WHRB. These are my pre-sets in the car, along with the npr affiliates."

lazrin writes:

"To those of you lamenting the lack of interesting music on commercial FM stations: there's a whole universe of music below 92 on your FM dial, of non-commercial FM stations. Don't be scared; dip your toe in and explore it - there's practically every musical genre imaginable, played by DJs with a true LOVE and PASSION for the music they are playing -that's because most DJs are volunteering their time to play the music they like, and not getting paid to maximize station ratings and ad revenues."

Now that's what I'm talking about. All of us who listen to and love college radio need to tell a friend...and so on...and so on.

College Radio vs. Music Aggregators

It was cool to see today that Meredith over at my favorite youth culture blog Ypulse took the time to listen to my interview on the Mediageek radio show about college radio. In response to my argument that college radio is still important because it often showcases hand-picked, curated playlists by human DJs she raises some questions about whether or not these stations and DJs can compete with the online world of music aggregators. In her piece, "Can College Radio Stay on the Same Wavelength as Young Listeners," she writes:

"I'm guessing Jennifer wouldn't be happy to hear that the first thing her description [of DJs curating their own shows] brought to mind was music blog aggregator sites like Hype Machine and We Are Hunted that ascribe these same virtues of authenticity and passion to the process of curating the curators (Hype Machine even creates online radio shows with the results.)..."

While curating the curators is cool and all.... I still like college radio more. I like the mystery involved with turning on a radio station and not knowing what I'm going to hear next. I love discovering new sounds by hearing them before I've heard about them. If you read bloggers to discover music, then often you are getting their take on something before you even happen upon the sounds. I suppose that's the same dynamic as learning about something from a friend or a record store clerk....which is cool. But my magical musical moments have been when I've heard something for the very first time (on the radio, in a music store, at a live show) and have become spell-bound.

Similarly, another point that I made in my interview was that with digital music, for the most part people are selecting what they want to hear before they hear it; rather than ceding control to someone else, like a DJ.

Meredith also writes:

"All this is NOT to question the need for college radio DJs, but rather ask how the traditional role can evolve to embrace this proliferation of music-discovering avenues on the web? I'm sure many are already out generating innovative solutions (that I'd love to hear...)..."

This is an interesting question and I think college radio stations have actually been on the forefront of embracing technology. College stations were early to stream, blog, archive shows, provide live cams, and real-time playlists. So, yes, indeed...many college radio stations are similar to the music bloggers. But radio is still radio and has some inherent benefits. And radio stations have the potential to do so much, from live events, to specialty music shows, to band interviews and live performances, to audio art.

Youth-Media Movement and Radio

It's reassuring to me that there's still a lot of energy around teaching kids and teens about radio. A number of organizations are focused on providing radio training to the youngest media mavens and there are also summertime opportunities like Digital Media Summer Camps at YouthVille Detroit. One of the programs this summer is "Web Radio and Broadcast Journalism," where students will learn to DJ and will produce their own shows on YouthVille Web Radio.

Another program, Youth Media Project, teaches high school students in Santa Fe about radio production and airs some of their pieces on local radio stations. A recent Santa Fe Reporter piece interviews Executive Director (and DJ) Judy Goldberg. Judy explains in the article that:

"The curriculum is rooted in gathering stories from the community and having that integrated into academic learning."

She also speaks a bit about the broader trend of the youth-media movement, saying:

"Only recently I’ve been brought into a national awareness of the youth-media movement. It’s rising in tandem with youth leadership and service learning. I’ve been asked to participate in the Youth Media Reporter, which is a publication that comes out of New York, and they are the forerunners of trying to help amass those who practice and teach youth media."

Does your station do anything to help get young people involved with radio?

College Radio Tidbits: WMUL's 89 Radio Awards, Student Body Prez Show at WXYC, and New High School Radio Station in UK

A few college radio-related items to report on today:

89 Radio Awards This Year for WMUL
An article on Herald-Dispatch.com outlines the numerous awards recently received by Marshall University student radio station WMUL in Huntington, West Virginia. According to the piece:

"Marshall University’s student radio station, WMUL, set a new station record during the 2008-2009 academic year with a total of 89 awards.

The previous record was 77 awards during the 2005-2006 year. The total includes 34 first-place awards, 15 second-place awards, seven third-place awards and 33 honorable mention awards. Since 1985, WMUL-FM student broadcasters have won 906 awards."

That's a whole lot of awards. I don't even know if the stations where I've been a DJ have even entered such contests. Does your station compete?

WXYC's Student Body President Show
Does student government have a voice at your radio station? According to an article in the Daily Tar Heel, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's student radio station WXYC has been airing "the Student Body President Show," in which the student government leader addresses students via the airwaves. The article states:

"Student government will not only be communicating to students through the radio, but also on Student Television and in The Chapel Hill News."

Listeners are also able to submit questions via IM and shows will eventually be podcast as well.

New High School Radio Station in UK
It's so great to hear about new radio stations popping up around the globe and it's even cooler to here that this one is at a high school in the UK. A piece this week outlines the new venture:

"TEENAGERS at a city secondary school have launched a radio station, which people will be able to listen to online. Isca College of Media Arts launched Isca Radio at lunchtime yesterday, with live music from school bands and singers, poetry readings and a competition to win an iPod...The school hopes to start broadcasting live shows once students get used to putting them together.

Susy Dunne, the school’s community arts coordinator, said: 'Radio has been one of our priorities from when we decided to become a specialist media arts school. The second phase of the specialism has begun and it’s something we are keen to get off the ground.'

She said that the radio station would increases students’ knowledge of broadcast media."

It's nice to see that she understands the ongoing relevant of radio. To hear their first radio broadcast, visit the school's website.

Farewell to Michael Jackson

San Francisco Chronicle Coverage of Michael Jackson's Death
from Today's Paper

Like many people, I'm still reeling from Michael Jackson's death on Thursday. I found out on email and immediately jumped on to Facebook to share my shock and get some consolation from friends. Status updates became message boards, full of conversation about various reactions to Michael Jackson's death. The same thing happened on blogs and Twitter. And people quickly drafted posts to chime in with their reactions (myself included).

It was fascinating to see people learning of the news via Facebook and hearing their immediate responses. Many, like me, were sad and shocked and immediately called upon personal memories of Michael Jackson's music. Every time I hear "Rock with You," I can't avoid thinking about junior high school years, roller skating parties, and school dances. I would imagine that people of my generation in particular have strong associations with the music (discussed nicely in this piece in the Miami Herald), as it was ubiquitous in the early 1980s and grew in popularity along with the rise of music videos and MTV.

Yet, at the same time, even in the minutes following the announcement of his death, I heard commentary from detractors who were quick to discount Jackson's influence (it's just good producers and choreographers) and felt that his misdeeds overshadowed his music. This line of commentary is what's been gnawing at me since I first heard of his death. Although I'm very disturbed by the child abuse allegations against Jackson and continue to be alarmed by some of his questionable parenting choices (dangling a baby off a balcony); there's no way for me to separate Michael Jackson's music from my youth.

Jackson 5 on American Bandstand

So, yes, I am sad. And, I did immediately want to turn on the TV to watch video after video so that I could reminiscence about a period in his career when he was at his peak and when I was still a kid and teen. Thank goodness for MTV and especially BET for its hours and hours of non-stop Michael Jackson videos on Thursday and Friday (and today FUSE is doing the same). He was so defined by his videos, so it was awesome to see iconic videos like "Beat It," "Thriller," and "Black or White" on channels that don't often play videos anymore.

Particularly heart-breaking to see were the pre-video performances from the Jackson 5. My 3-year-old daughter was rivetted by his singing and dance moves and was particularly charmed when the Jackson 5's very first American Bandstand appearance hit the screen on MTV. That's the real tragedy, seeing Michael as a cute talented little kid and knowing how his life ultimately turned out.

But, even as that example shows, one of the best ways to deal with death is by cherishing positive memories of the departed. So everyone embraced the music. It was cool to see some of my local record shops getting TV coverage, as customers flocked in to pick up Michael Jackson CDs and records.

ABC Shows DJ Playing Michael Jackson

And, as I had hoped, radio responded as well. A DJ at my station did a Michael Jackson themed show Thursday night (even playing some Weird Al), KCRW quickly assembled a tribute page on their website and aired special programming, and Sirius XM radio had a number of tributes across various channels (including one hosted by former MTV VJ Nina Blackwood on the 1980s channel) and it's devoting an entire channel to a Michael Jackson tribute today through June 29th on Heart & Soul (Sirius 51 and XM 62). As Tom Taylor of Radio-Info pointed out in his newsletter, "...Michael Jackson and radio made a lot of very good times and very good business together." The Radio-Info website has a bunch of stats to back that up, including reports on the increased Michael Jackson airplay on radio following his death.

Michael Jackson's Death Came Too Late for Streetlight's San Francisco Store on 24th Street
(but their San Jose branch was all over the news)

ABC World News Tonight showed clips of radio stations around the globe playing Michael Jackson songs and I found reports about special programming in Colorado (community station KAFM), North Carolina, and Boston in addition to a number of interesting tributes on college radio stations like WRMC, WICB and WUOG (just a sampling!).

Ben Fong-Torres has a really nice front page story about Michael Jackson in the San Francisco Chronicle today, outlining both his influence on music and his complicated persona. Ben's been in an interesting position the past few days, as he's been fielding non-stop calls from the media, asking for his commentary about the King of Pop. Ben interviewed a teen-aged Jackson, so it's got to be sad and surreal for him how things played out for Michael.

It's also bittersweet to think that a tragic death of a music superstar can potentially be so lucrative for the music industry. But, hey, I'm pleased that it may cause more people to buy physical music, patronize record shops, and turn the radio back on again. It makes us all remember just how powerful music can be.

Ypulse Mashup Recap Part Two: Levi's, MTV, Playlist Culture and Trend Gurus

Anastasia Goodstein Moderating Panel at YPulse Mashup

It's hard to believe that youth culture blog Ypulse is celebrating its 5th anniversary. Anastasia Goodstein provides such a great service, with a fun and informative website and some of the most interesting conferences that I've ever been to. Last week I attended the 3rd annual national Ypulse Mashup (June 1st and 2nd in San Francisco), immersing myself in the current state of youth culture and technology.

I've already covered the role of music in college marketing in my piece last week on the pre-conference session that I attended. In this post, I'm going to share a few tidbits from the remainder of the conference. For the full scoop, you can take a look at posts from the live bloggers who were in attendance and also download some of the speaker presentations.

Josh Shipp at Ypulse Mashup

Josh Shipp - "My goal is to offend you."

"Advice slinger," motivational speaker, and soon-to-be TV star Josh Shipp of HeyJosh.com gave the opening keynote, suggesting to marketers that they listen to teens, show vulnerability, and be irreverent. He encouraged companies to allow users access to things like one's brand logo, so that consumers can "mess with it" and make it their own.

Levi's and Viral Video

Way back in my ad agency past, I worked on the Levi's account on kids' wear and 501 jeans. So, I always feel a bit proud and nostalgic whenever I see news about what they're up to. Their VP of Brand Marketing, Doug Sweeney, started his presentation by showing some old Levi's ads (some from my ad days!) and saying that one of their goals is to "authentically insert the brand into pop culture." One of the ways that they recently did this was by producing low budget viral films that appeared to be created by regular folk. They had a huge response to one of these films, "Jean Jump," which became a big hit on YouTube, then attracted mainstream press. Next up for Levi's, a series of films on the skater-like faux sport of powersliding.

Panel of Trend Gurus at Ypulse Mashup

Trend Guru Roundtable and the Role of Playlist Culture

I love trend gurus. Every since I was a lowly ad agency worker charged with keeping track of youth and pop culture trends, I've been obsessed with the business of trendwatching. Back in 1990 or so I met teen culture tracker Irma Zandl for the first time and thought that she had THE coolest job in the world since she got to monitor trends and report to companies about what was hot and what was not. A few years later we hired Marian Salzman's company BKG Youth to work with my agency and Levi's to interview and find trendsetting youth. For the first time, I actually got to be a trend tracker as well, helping to determine if hipsters that we pulled from the street were style leaders. I was drunk with power... Although I didn't build a career out of it, Marian Salzman has gone on to become an even bigger trend diva and now heads up Intelligent Dialogue, the trend arm of public relations firm Porter-Novelli.

With that personal history in mind, it was super fun to see a round table of trend expects talking about the latest and greatest 2009-style in the panel "What's Cool in 2009 and Beyond." They admitted that with changes to technology, everyone has access to trend information at hyperspeed, but argued that those looking for trend insights still need guides or filters to help understand the trends. Jody Turner from Culture of Future described this nicely, saying that she works as a "cultural translator."

In talking about the role of Twitter and social networking, Lauren Puglia from Undercurrent argued that today there is a "heightened self-awareness" since people are accustomed to filling out detailed personal profiles for all of their online identities. Jody added, "I call it more of a playlist culture.....online...[it's] more about what you've got...Life has become sharing playlists...[that's the] new identity builder." This was probably my favorite insight from the entire conference and I agree that this list-making behavior, which started with music, is a compelling way for people to share tidbits about their personalities.

Mobile Marketers in a Ypulse Breakout Session

Mobile Youth Marketing and Music - Def Jam's SRC on MocoSpace

A big theme throughout the conference was user-generated content, more specifically, users manipulating a company's content in order to create something new. Additionally, companies are starting to post things that look user-generated, either by creating low budget viral videos or by inviting viewers to comment on unfinished work. Mobile community MocoSpace has been working with a Def Jam label to post uncompleted music tracks in order to get not only exposure for various artists, but also to get feedback on the material.


Disney and User-Generated Campaigns

A trio of Disney execs chatted about Disney's role in social media and how they are embracing user-generated content. This is a real departure for Disney, a company which has historically maintained tight control over their artists and content. Yet, in today's world of YouTube, American Idol, and music mashups, they needed to be more welcoming to an audience of fans who want to be more involved in the creation of artists and content.

They talked about how we live in a day when a YouTube sensation like Marie Digby can actually get a record deal based on a viral video. With Disney Records, they are now utilizing a DIY aesthetic and are inviting fans to play around with their content in order to produce their own music videos. Through their U Rock the Summer promotion on Disney.com, they provided downloadable music and asked users to create their own music videos, which were then voted on by other site visitors. It was so successful that the promotion will continue this summer on U Rock 2.

User-generated lunch discussion on iPhone apps
(fun fact: at least two people at the table were former college radio DJs)

MTV Does Air Music and is Moving Beyond "the Hills"

One of my favorite speakers from Monday, Ross Martin of MTV, was back on Tuesday on a panel about Generation Y and the recession. Ross was optimistic, saying, "this is not a generation that is depressed" and adding that the younger generation thinks about money simply as a "means to an end." When he was asked about MTV's demographic, he pointed out that MTV has something for every age-group, with 168 channels.

In response to another question from the audience about some of MTV's more superficial programming ("The Hills"), Ross pointed out that MTV does a lot of work in the pro-social arena and that its embedded in the network's "DNA," with efforts like "Choose or Lose" and, more recently, with MTVu projects related to Darfur (Darfur is Dying) and the financial crisis (Indepted). Additionally, Ross talked a bit about a new fall show on MTV called "The Buried Life," which will portray recent college grads working on their list of 100 things to do before they die.

Answering to the ever-present critics, he also added that one can still find music and videos on MTV properties, including an all-video website MTVMusic and a new early morning music-oriented show on MTV called AMTV that airs 24 hours of music a week. I also noticed that there a number of MTV-themed online "radio stations" (via Rhapsody), including some that are outside the mainstream ("Emo Youth" and "Indie Now"). He added that it's important for marketers in this economy to be risk-takers (he referenced Barry Judge's blog which posts rough cuts of Best Buy ads for user feedback), saying, "If you're not getting in trouble, you're probably doing something wrong right now."

Ross also mentioned that increasingly they have little control over how their content gets re-appropriated. He said that MTV decided not to stream the recent MTV Movie Awards online, but that viewers did it anyway and that what resulted was an active viewing audience online, with real-time tweets commenting on the show.

MTV always seems to be doing something new and interesting, which is refreshing. I hadn't been to their website in awhile and another thing that impressed me was that they have an ever-changing stash of backgrounds (sort of like "skins") for the page. Many of them look hand-drawn, kind of hearkening back to the early days of manipulated MTV logos. It's a nice touch.



Young Entrepreneneurs are Collaborative and Fearless

The Ypulse Mashup ended with a duo of sessions focused on young entrepreneurs. Donna Fenn discussed her forthcoming book Upstarts, which profiles young business owners. She argued that young entrepreneurs are much more collaborative than their older conterparts and that they tend to embed social goals into their companies. Donna also said they tend to be optimistic and are open about sharing their ideas in order to get feedback from others.

Guy Kawasaki then moderated a panel of very young entrepreneurs (the oldest was 23), some of whom started companies when they were as young as 13. Guy seemed impressed with their fearlessness when faced with board rooms, 40 year olds, and venture capitalists. And, indeed, their passion to follow their dreams was inspiring. I was particularly thrilled to hear about Carly Wertheim's success with Teens Turning Green, an environmentally-friendly product line that's now in Whole Foods.